


They shine for you

by Robin_Hood



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AFTG Valentine's Day Exchange 2018, M/M, mentions of past but nothing graphic, riko is only mentioned briefly, softness alert, thank god, very warm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 17:12:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13663575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robin_Hood/pseuds/Robin_Hood
Summary: Thank you for running with meThank you for piecing me back togetherThank you for keeping me alive





	They shine for you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nekojita](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekojita/gifts).



> Okay! I finally finished it, and I'm so glad that I received Nekojita's gift before I posted this so I could thank them for it!  
> I hope you enjoy this bit of writing, I had a lot of fun with your prompt!

Two months ago, Neil found himself under Riko’s blade and oppressive persona not knowing if he would survive the next few hours.

Two months ago, Jean was being forced to watch Riko tear Neil apart after one word too many had been said to the press, to the sports world, about what exactly went on in the nest.

Two weeks later, Neil had been being discharged from the hospital, and the two of them had been asked, Jean would describe it as harassing, about the charges that had been brought against Tetsuji and Riko Moriyama.

Two weeks later, Neil had been on too many pain medications to have any real understanding of what was going on.

A week passed, and the two of them found themselves alone in the apartment that they’d been staying in on Valentine’s Day. Neither of them had wanted to be outside while the trial was going on, and the idea of going outside on a holiday dedicated to bright pinks and public displays of affection was even less appealing.

“Are you sure you don’t want to do…anything?” Jean asked, looking over to the other side of the couch where Neil was buried in a blanket.

“Um, I mean…dinner?” Neil looked apprehensive that Jean was suggesting they do anything in public. Neil had been even more wary of going outside after what Riko had done to his…everything. He was the same to Jean, but he couldn’t stand the double takes, and looks of pity that usually came along with going in public.

He hated that Neil had become so different, distant, since the last night at Evermore. All of the fire seemed to have been extinguished from his eyes and from his mouth that never seemed to cease to close. Most of all, he hated that he was watching what had happen to himself years ago happen to the one thing in life he’d grown close to.

Neil burrowed further into the blanket, turning his eyes to the screen and unmuting the sound. Jean sighed, leaning back against the couch.

“…investigation covering the case at Evermore, home of the Edgar Allen Ravens Exy team, is continuing. Former captain, Riko Moriyama, is set to go on trial for abusive actions inflicted on his former teammates, namely Neil Josten, and Jean Moreau, two of the most prominent…”

Jean shut off the TV as the last night the two of them spent there threatened to swallow him.

He sucked in a deep breath, willing the oxygen to dissipate the dark memories, the dark feelings, back to the corner of his mind where he’d manage to lock his demons. Of course, like anyone would know, they didn’t like being locked away.

The hardest thing was having to listen to Neil’s screams. He could close his eyes, momentarily at least, before Riko would stop, before Riko would grab Jean and shove him closer to where Neil was breathing heavily on his bunk as his life force bled out of him.

The hardest thing was how Neil’s ice blue eyes told Jean how much pain he was in. Riko had laughed at him when he’d started crying, telling him that Neil had brought this onto himself, and that he chose to go under the blade instead of Jean.

Neil had shoved himself up on his ruined arms and spat an insult at Riko that caused the monster to turn back to him, slamming his head against the backboard as he screamed his favorite, overused phrase.

_“I own you.”_

Along with his second favorite too,

_“You’re nothing.”_

That’s what seemed to be another one of the things that had managed to stay locked inside of the intricate web that made up Neil’s mental state.

The only thing that had been redeeming about that night was how Jean had managed to convinced the police of how severe the situation was so that they rejected the bribe Tetsuji had presented to them at the gates.

“Jean,” Neil’s quiet voice interrupted the memory, and Jean thankfully grabbed onto the escape ladder from his thoughts.

“Yeah,” he replied, managing a slight smile as he looked up at Neil.

He regretted that upon seeing how blank Neil looked, reminiscent of how he looked after Riko had been yanked away when the police arrived. 

Neil was standing up, running shoes in hand, behind Jean. The scarring on his face seemed more apparent because of the light shining on his pale skin. Neil must have noticed, because his eyes darkened, and he turned away from the light.

“I’m going for a run,” he stated, walking towards the door.

Jean panicked.

“Neil,” he started, standing rapidly from the couch, but caught himself from advancing towards Neil, opting to dig his nails into his palms. Neil looked back at him with that awful, blank look on his face.

“Be safe, okay?” Jean muttered, turning away and gritting his teeth.

_Been here before, haven’t you?_

Neil hesitated when he went to open the door, and moved back towards Jean, taking him by the hand and pressing his forehead against his shoulder.

“I will,” He promised, squeezing Jean’s hand before leaving the apartment, and gently closing the door behind himself.

“ _Merde,_ ” Jean breathed, sitting down on the couch and holding his head in his hands.

He’d never really learned how to healthily deal with his feelings until recently, and he still struggled with it all the damn time. It was worse watching Neil disappear into his own feelings though. Jean hated feeling helpless, despite enduring that feeling for his entire life.

_Happy fucking Valentine’s Day_ , he thought glumly, dragging his hands over his eyes and flopping down on the couch, letting out a loud groan.

His phone started ringing, which was a rarity, and Jean brought it up to his face. The caller ID cleared the clouds in his mind, and an idea burst into his head.

“Hey Jeremy,” he said somewhat cheerfully, attempting to evade Jeremy’s inevitable disbelief.

“Are you okay?”

Jean couldn’t help but smile at how transparent he was. Either that, or how perceptive Jeremy was. Either way, it was funny.

“Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with something,” he began, “I was wondering if you knew of any…calm? Calm places that…I was wondering if you could take Neil somewhere quiet for a few hours.” Somehow he managed to get what he wanted to say out.

He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do for Neil, but all he knew was that he didn’t want their first Valentine’s Day together under the shadow of Riko. They had been living like that their entire lives. They deserved a break.

“Ah, I get it,” Jean could hear the smile on Jeremy’s face, “I do, actually. Renee and I were planning on going to a quiet festival this afternoon. Not many people go, so I think Neil will be comfortable.”

Jean sighed, relieved. Jeremy was too good for this god forsaken world. Actually, Jeremy convinced Jean that there was a God, and Jeremy was his right hand man. There was no other explanation for it.

“Thank you so much,” Jean sighed, his nails into his palms to reassure himself that yes, this was real. Good things can happen, “Neil’s on a run right now, but I’ll tell him when he gets back.”

“No problem, Jean. Are you alright, though? I saw what was on the news today,” Jeremy’s tone was that of concern.

_Yes, how_ are _you?_

Jean swallowed, hard.

“I’m alive,” He said simply, “I’m out of the nest. I’m nowhere near recovered, but I’m okay.”

Honesty was a new concept.

A lifetime of ‘don’t worry about its’ and ‘I’m fines’ when responding to concerned voices prompted by blank eyes, revealed bruises, and accidental winces built up an instinct to lie.

Jean was alive. He could get through this.

“That’s good Jean. I’m glad you’re thinking like that,” Jeremy sounded pleased, “Anyways, I’ll leave you up to your shenanigans. I’ll be around to pick up carrot top later. See ya!”

Jean stood up and stretched, glad that he’d managed to work something out. He didn’t have an exact plan, but after spending years whispering about everything under the sky with Neil, he had somewhat of an idea of what he would appreciate.

“Carrot top,” he chuckled. He was _so_ calling Neil that.

\---

Neil ran until he couldn’t breathe.

He threw up when he finally did stop, but the darkness that had been threatening to swallow his vision had been fought off, at least for the time being. He sucked in deep breaths as he sat down at the base of a large tree, counting in French

_Un deux trois quatr cinq…_

In Spanish

_Uno dos tres cuatro cinco…_

German

_Eins zwei drei vier fünf…_

He closed his eyes.

There was too much to think about. Too much had happened in the past few months. The usual schedule that was present in the nest wasn’t there anymore for Neil to lose himself in. Dealing with the press had never been something that he enjoyed doing, but now it was even worse with the truth about Evermore coming out. Riko had attacked any bit of Neil’s skin that last night, making Neil’s visage that received more attention than Neil was comfortable with.

He had taken to wearing hoodies on the daily, and avoiding going outside as much as possible, but the treadmill in their apartment didn’t give him the same rush as feeling the wind pushing against him outside.

The thing that hurt the most though was having to put Jean through it.

He could deal with his own pain as best as he could, but he wasn’t blind to how it had affected Jean. He had never been good with other people’s pain because it was all he could do to hold himself together.

Probably another reason he opted to run outside today.

He pulled out his phone to check if Jean had texted him, a wave of guilt washing over him when he saw how much time had passed.

He was sick of falling into his thoughts.

He shoved himself up, and began jogging back to the apartment, trying to think of a way to make today better for Jean. Neither of them should have to deal with the thoughts of the trial, especially today. They had made it out of the nest, and they shouldn’t have to deal with more issues.

Valentine’s Day was supposed to be a happy thing, and Neil didn’t want his head to fuck that up.

_Already did, Nathaniel._

“Shut the _fuck_ up,” he exhaled forcefully, earning himself an alarmed glance from a mother pushing her child down the path. He grinned at her and kept running, the smile slipping off as quickly as it had appeared as he did so.

He needed to work on his social skills.

When he let himself back into the apartment, Jean seemed to be in a better mood which was a relief. Neil never really knew how to talk about his bursts of emotion, but Jean seemed to understand his thoughts. Jean was more understanding than Neil thought he deserved, no, knew he deserved.

“After you shower, you should call Jeremy,” Jean called as Neil stepped into the bathroom. Neil stopped with his hand on the handle. His mind immediately jumped to worst case scenarios, but he knew that was completely ridiculous.

_It’s_ Jeremy _, for Christ’s sake._

“Okay,” he called back, pulling off clothes and avoiding the mirror as he stepped into the shower. He had never been a big fan of what he looked like, but the healing scars that covered the majority of his flesh didn’t make things much easier.

He showered as quickly as he could, re-dressed, and flopped down on the living room couch to call Jeremy.

“Hey Josten!”

Jeremy’s loud voice filtered through his phone speaker causing Neil to wince before turning down the volume. 

“Hey Knox. What do you want?” he sighed, responding to the indignant look Jean shot him by sticking out his tongue. Jean rolled his eyes and went back to writing something on a piece of paper.

“I’m calling to request, nay, alert you to the fact that Renee and I are going to take you to a festival. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes, so be ready,” Jeremy seemed oblivious to the fact that he was overstepping his bounds, “Bring money.”

Neil was quiet.

“And why am I doing this?” Neil asked calmly, somewhat irritated, but one can’t stay irritated at Jeremy Knox for long.

“Because you need to get out and have fun. Also Jean has been worried about you,” Jeremy stated, and Neil looked over at Jean who seemed to be contemplating the piece of paper.

“…Okay.” Neil said quietly.

“Great!” Jeremy exclaimed, “We’re actually downstairs now, so come as soon as you can.”

“Damn you, Knox,” Neil said without any real force behind it as he hung up. He ran his fingers through

his hair. A festival was _not_ what he intended to do on Valentine’s, any day really, especially if he wasn’t

going with Jean. He groaned loudly as he forced himself off the couch to go grab a hoodie from his room.

 Festival’s to Neil meant shocked glances, and

_“Oh my god, are you Neil Josten?”_

_“Dude, what happened to your face?”_

So he hoped that whatever Jeremy was planning wouldn’t take that long. That or he’d have a plan. Neil sometimes wondered what went on inside the head of the captain of the Trojans. He’d rarely seen him doing anything other than smiling, which usually made Neil distrustful, but Jeremy actually seemed to smile from the bottom of his heart. Renee seemed the same way, but in a gentler tone. With her past though, it made sense.

Neil took another deep breath before walking out of his room, and moving to the kitchen next to Jean.

“I don’t know how long they’re going to hold me hostage, so I might never return,” he dead panned, but was unable to keep his expression straight when Jean let out a light laugh that rarely slipped from his mouth.

“I’ll remember you,” Jean replied solemnly, taking Neil’s hand and looking him straight in the eye.

Neil flushed and moved into Jean’s chest, leaning his head against his shoulder. Jean settled his chin on Neil’s head and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing him ever so slightly. The two existed together in a small moment of peace before Neil pulled back and stood up on his toes to kiss Jean briefly.

“I…I’ll see you when I get back,” Neil said as Jean pulled his arms back, and walked towards the door.

“Have fun.” Jean called, smirking.

Neil shot him a look before slipping out the door and down the hallway towards the stairs.

“I hope so,” he whispered to himself before opening the door to the lobby to reveal the tanned Knox, and pastel Renee. The two were conversing with the doorman before Renee brushed Jeremy’s arm and inclined her head in Neil’s direction.

Neil steeled himself as he walked towards the pair of them, but didn’t feel the need to force himself to smile. These were two people who would probably see right through that if he attempted that.

“There he is! Get over here Neil,” Jeremy called, a smile already slipping onto his face as he and Renee approached Neil. He stopped a few feet away from him and held out his arms in question before moving forward and embracing Neil when Neil nodded. “I’m glad you’re up to this,” he said quietly as the two separated. Neil shrugged.

“I’m not doing this for me,” he replied, and Jeremy’s smile widened.

“Maybe not, but we are.”

Neil wasn’t sure what the world had ever done that deserved Jeremy Knox to be sent to its surface, but whatever it was, he was grateful for it as he settled in the back of Jeremy’s car.

\---

A little after Neil left, Jean got a text from Jeremy.

_Good luck, Jean Valjean ;)_

_Don’t text me when you’re driving, fool._

_You wound me :0 Renee is driving_

Jean set his phone down, and set back to what he had been doing. He had just returned from the flower shop to pick up what Renee had said was appropriate.

Blue irises. Renee had told him that they symbolized hope.

Jean picked up the bouquet, examining the details within the flowers. Flowers seemed delicate, and the fact that they were associated with hope was strange. Something so easily killed, so dependent…

No, he understood.

Hope was exactly that. Something delicate that needed help to thrive, to bloom.

Jean sat down and looked at everything he had gathered for this evening. He wanted it to be perfect. Neil deserved perfect after everything that had happened. They both deserved it.

He pushed himself onto his feet, gathering everything into a basket and walking towards the stairwell. As he carried the blanket and the bits of food up the stairs onto the roof of their apartment complex, he thought back to the evenings, the nights, where the two of them were barely conscious.

Nights at Evermore were crushing.

The darkness present during the day was amplified by closed eyes and closed doors and, depending on Riko’s moods, cruel hands and blades.

Whenever the other suffered at Riko’s antics, after they had put the other back together, they laid together in silence, looking up at the black ceiling.

_“I miss stars,” Neil had whispered, his voice still raspy from the screams Riko had pulled from his throat._

He had never known much about them, but on the occasion where they had to stay outside, Neil had found a small comfort in their simple beauty.

Jean had gone to great lengths to procure sticky tack, and plastic stars. He had felt foolish while he was getting them because of how dangerous this was if Riko found out, but the result made everything worth it.

Jean closed his eyes as he remembered one of the happier moments at Evermore.

_“Jean.”_

_“hmm.”_

_“What did you do?”_

_Jean smiled up at the ceiling that was now glowing softly._

_“I put plastic stars on the ceiling.”_

_“No shit, Jean,” Neil sighed, but he nuzzled closer to Jean, the corners of his mouth tilting up as he closed his eyes._

_“Tell me the names of the constellations,” Jean whispered, nudging his shoulder against Neil’s when Neil had been quiet for too long. If there was one thing that Jean had learned from their time together in the nest was that Neil’s worst enemy was his mind; was his self._

_“Capricorn,” a raised arm, and a pointed bandaged finger, “Scorpio,” a raspy voice, vocal chords left ragged by screams and tears, “Orion.” The arm falls, along with silence._

_A more comfortable silence fell over the dorm room_

Surprisingly, Riko did little more than mock the two of them when he next visited their room, but the stars remained adhered to the ceiling, resulting in nights being a little easier to survive as a result of the stars interrupting the lack of crushing darkness.  

Jean dropped the blankets onto the ground, gently biting his lower lip as he thought of anything else the two of them would need.

Any gesture of kindness, any display of affection, was punished with swift and brutal punishment, so what Neil and him had was kept secret. This was so beyond anything they had been able to do, so the both of them were unsure of what a romantic relationship usually entailed.

To Jean, it was helping Neil through the past years at Evermore. It was holding him when flashbacks brought him out of sleep in a state of panic, and murmuring softly into his ear to remind him that he was safe and out of Riko’s clutches.

It was just being there to support the other through pain.

Jean closed his eyes and felt the wind blow against his face, against his chest. He doubted he’d ever get used to this feeling; the feeling of being alive, actually being alive, and feeling like his actions weren’t dictated by an ever-growing leviathan.

Actually being able to breathe with ease, knowing that he’d still be alive at the end of the day.

He hadn’t cried in years.

\---

The festival was nothing like what Neil had expected.

He had it expected it to be loud with too many people, too many sounds. In short, a recipe for sensory overload. This was nothing like that at all.

As soon as Jeremy had turned off the highway onto an old farm road, Neil had started to relax. There had been a worn sign indicating where to turn, nothing flashy, just something there for people who took time to look.

Neil hadn’t been able to speak when they had parked the car at the sheer simplicity of the festival grounds.

There were soft colored ribbons hanging from the trees; pinks, whites, and yellows intertwined around the wooden posts next to the small shops nestled among green grass, and flower bushes. Simple things that usually went unnoticed entangled Neil in feelings he didn’t even know he had.

“It’s…” he’d managed before his throat closed, and he felt his eyes stinging. Renee set a gentle hand on Neil’s back, offering him a small smile.

“Come on, it’s just the entrance,” She encouraged him, looping her arm through his own.

Neil wasn’t a fan of touch, but Renee lacked malicious intent.

Renee had ended up talking him into face paint, of all things, and he now found himself in a stool while a middle aged woman offered him examples to look at. Her eyes caught on the marks on his face, but she didn’t do anything but offer him a smile.

_“I stuck stars on the ceiling.”_

Neil cleared his throat.

“Can you uh…paint constellations on my scars?” he asked quietly, avoiding her eyes and choosing to look over at Renee instead. She kept her smile to a minimum, but her smile shone through her eyes.

“Of course, do you have any preferences?” Warmth. There was warmth in every damn corner of this place, from the light filtering through the birch trees, to the people running the stalls.

“Scorpio and…Capricorn, and Orion,” he said quietly.

Jeremy returned at this point, three crepes in hand, and his face lit up (could his face get any brighter?) when he saw what Neil was doing.

‘I’ll save this for you,’ he mouthed, then flashed Neil a thumbs up.

Neil allowed a small smile to make its way onto his face before closing his eyes and letting the soft, cooling brush ease him into a relaxed silence.

This was relaxation. Falling onto a bed where he wasn’t sure if he was going to get ripped apart that night, or worse, wasn’t. Relief of the lack of punishment wasn’t relaxation.

Neil had never closed his eyes for long at Evermore, aside from when he slept, because he _couldn’t_. Closing his eyes meant letting his guard down, and when he let his guard down

_Breathe._

Neil opened his eyes and watched the trees sway in the breeze.

It would probably take years to recover everything that had happened Evermore, but with people like Renee and Jeremy.

People like Jean.

He could recover. He _would_.

He closed his eyes again because he could. He closed his eyes because it was safe.

Jeremy and Renee exchanged a glance as a sigh slipped from Neil’s lips and Jeremy extended a fist.

“Do it,” he whispered.

Renee rolled her eyes and complied, shaking her head as Jeremy added sound effects.

“That should do it,” the woman set down her brush and brought a mirror up to Neil’s face. He opened his eyes slowly, and began to recoil at his reflection until he noticed the pain dancing across his skin, covering his marred bits of flesh on his face.

Where there used to be a scar from the edge of his bed post was the third star in Orion’s belt, and what used to be a line of scars left from the last night formed Scorpio and a number of other stars. Whites, blacks, greys, blues and purples ran across his face erasing any traces of what had happened at Evermore. He knew it was there, but it allowed him to think of them as something beautiful for once.

“Thank you,” he whispered, bringing his fingers to his face before stopping, “Thank you.”

The woman smiled.

_Warmth._

“You’re welcome, it’s on me, ah ah no, take it. I enjoyed myself, that’s payment enough,” she waved away Neil’s attempt to brush her offer off with another smile, “enjoy the festival.”

Neil smiled at her as he stood up, and followed Renee and Jeremy into the sunlight.

The rest of the festival passed in a blur of sunlight, tranquility, and possibility.

A watercolor stall brought a rendition of jean in stunning greys and blues, a pottery station brought laughter and a failed lopsided pot, and a jewelry stall brought matching rope bracelets with a charm engraved with the word ‘survivor’.

Neil was alive.

\---

The apartment was dark by the time Neil bid Jeremy and Renee arrived, and he shouldered the door open because of the bags in his hands.

“Jean?” he called, walking around the apartment. It was strange because they never turned the lights off in the apartment. Panic seeped into Neil as he checked every room, “Jean!”

“God, god, god, god…” Neil’s hands were shaking, and he clenched his hands tighter around the bags. He stopped short in the kitchen at the sight of the note on the kitchen. His throat closed, and he couldn’t help but believe that Jean had been taken away. He opened the note.

_Rooftop._

Neil calmed ever so slightly as he took off running.

He took the stairs two at a time, and ignored the burning in his lungs as he reached the top, and threw open the door.

And there he was.

He was holding a small bouquet of blue flowers, and he was _smiling_. There was food set up on a blanket, and Neil looked up and all he could think of was stars, stars, _stars._ He couldn’t speak as he looked back at Jean.

“They represent hope, or at least that’s what Renee told me” he stated as he handed Neil the flowers. Neil just looked at them, then back at Jean.

“I know you said you didn’t really want to do anything,” Jean murmured, walking slowly towards Neil who continued staring at him, dumbfounded, “But I wanted to. Because, Neil…” Jean paused, swallowing and looking at Neil’s face, his eyes tracking the paint on Neil’s face, “Neil I _love_ you. And you deserve all of this and more. And I’m probably ruining this and…”

Neil dropped the bag, took Jean’s face in his hands and conveyed what both of them felt, but were both too helpless in the ways of words to say.

Touch meant so much more between the two of them than two people connecting on the physical plane. Touch meant full body immersion; a complete synth.

_Thank you for running with me_

_Thank you for piecing me back together_

_Thank you for keeping me alive_

_Thank you_

Neil pulled back ever so slightly and looked up into Jean’s eyes.

“This is…way better than your stick on stars,” Neil murmured, causing a laugh to make its way out of Jean. Neil thinks it’s the best sound he’s ever heard.

He lead Neil to the blankets, and the two settled next to each-other cross legged. Jean brought his hands up to Neil’s face, tracing the paint with gentle fingers.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, causing a flush to run across Neil’s cheeks.

Neil held up the bag.

“I got you something. The festival was really…really nice. We should go sometime,” Neil muttered, pushing the bag into Jean’s hand.

Jean pulled the painting out first.

“Are you sure you didn’t get this for you?” he joked, ruffling Neil’s hair. Neil leaned into his shoulder, smiling to himself as Jean pulled out the bracelets.

“Oh, Neil,” he said softly, rubbing the word with his thumb, “It’s perfect.”

Neil took it from his hands and helped Jean wrap it around Jean’s wrist, Jean doing the same for him.

“Thank you,” he whispered, turning to Neil and kissing his cheek.

The two laid against the blankets, taking in the stars.

“Have you ever heard of that song by Coldplay? Yellow?” Jean asked quietly, causing Neil to look at him.

“Nah, how come?” Neil replied, inching closer to him.

“I think you’d like it. I’ve been,” blush ran over Jean’s pale cheeks, “Practicing. Singing, I mean, and…”

Neil smiled at him.

Jean cleared his throat and sat up, closing his eyes.

_Look at the stars, how they shine for you_

_And everything you do_

_And it was all yellow_

There was a light in Jean’s eyes that hadn’t been there since he was five years old as he sang for Neil, his partner, his lover.

_I came along_

_I wrote a song for you_

_And all the things you do_

_And it was called yellow_

There was a light in Neil’s eyes that had been crushed by cold, cruel hands long ago as he listened to Jean’s warm, low voice, ever so slightly accented by his years spend growing up in France.

_Your skin_

_Oh yeah your skin and bones_

_Turn into something beautiful_

_You know you know I love you so_

_You know I love you so_

Two lost souls found solace in each other, banding together through pain and cruelty over the course of countless years at the hands of a monster. Years of bad memories were trapped under hesitant recovery, but there was peace in another’s arms. Shared trauma was still trauma, yet with someone else who truly understood the pain of helplessness, they could find peace.

When Jean finished the song, he kissed Neil again, pulling him into his chest and running his hands through Neil’s bright hair.

When Jean kissed Neil, Neil felt as if everything was settling in that moment, and here, under the stars with Jean, was something he could depend on.

It was in this moment that the two of them realized that happiness wasn’t a dream they would be chasing for the rest of their lives. Happiness was a very real thing, as was freedom and love and _trust_. In this moment, they realized that they wouldn’t have to live in fear anymore.

Life would never be perfect for them, but on this day, Valentine’s Day, they had found some sort of peace through wordless kisses, and heartfelt gifts.


End file.
